Social Navigation

The Cubs Are Going to Hollywood! Cubs at Dodgers: June 13-16, 2019

With Colorado in the rear-view mirror, the Cubs West Coast trip continues with four games at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers may not have as tough of a division as the Cubs do in the NL Central (partially explaining their 45-23 record), but it’s tough to argue they somehow aren’t a really good team. Four games in their ballpark starting with Clayton Kershaw won’t be an easy matchup. We should be happy if they come away with a series split.

… even if I want a whole lot more than that.

We’re Going Streaking

The Chicago Cubs (38-29) appeared to be taking off again after beating the Angels in a makeup game, beating the Rockies in 2 out of 3, and sweeping the Cardinals, but then they dropped 2 of 3 in Colorado and the momentum suddenly feels a little halted. They’re a half-game back in the division, but have won 7 of their past 10 games. It could be worse.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (45-23) have a commanding lead in the NL West (I’m only a little jealous), but did just drop back-to-back games against the Angels. In fact, they’ve lost 4 of their past 6 games, though that came after a 7-game winning streak.

Cubs Pitcher: Kyle Hendricks has been worth 2.4 WAR through 13 starts this season, which actually makes him a top-10 pitcher in MLB. Even cooler: Only three of the nine pitchers ahead of him on the rankings have fewer than 14 starts, so he could reasonably move up after he pitches tomorrow (I mean, he could move down, too, but shut up). He’s lasted at least 7.0 innings in three straight starts and has walked 1 or fewer batters in four straight. This is arguably peak Kyle Hendricks, and it’s fun to watch.

Cubs Player: Carlos Gonzalez has been pretty good since coming to the Cubs, albeit in a small sample.

But as you can see, there’s still some concerns, namely the strikeout rate and elevated BABIP (even if the former is helped by a very high walk rate and the latter is somewhat supported by a ton of hard contact).

Dodgers Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw has not gone fewer than 6.0 innings pitched in any of his starts this season, though he’s given up multiple runs in all but two of those starts. He’s got an excellent 52.1% ground ball rate, a tiny 3.9% walk rate, and is otherwise just overall pretty good. He might not be his usual utterly unhitable self, but he’s still performing well this season. Tonight will be a tough matchup. Oh, and also the next three nights.

Dodgers Player: Cody Bellinger remains arguably the top player in baseball. He’s tied with Mike Trout at 4.5 WAR, but is beating him with a 187 wRC+ (versus 184 wRC+ for Trout). Normally I’d say the Cubs pitchers should avoid him as much as possible, HOWEVA, I will point out that he’s got just 2 hits (plus 5 walks) in his last 22 plate appearances and both were singles. And in the month of June he’s hitting just .182/.325/.242 over 40 PAs.

Disclaimer

In addition to news, Bleacher Nation publishes both rumor and opinion, as well as information reported by other sources. Information on Bleacher Nation may contain errors or inaccuracies, though we try to avoid them. Links to content and the quotation of material from other news sources are not the responsibility of Bleacher Nation. Photos used are the property of Bleacher Nation, are used under a license with Getty Images, are used with permission, are fair use, or are believed to be in the public domain. Legitimate requests to remove copyrighted photos not in the public domain will be honored promptly. Comments by third parties are neither sponsored or endorsed by Bleacher Nation.

Bleacher Nation Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Bleacher Nation is a private media site, and it is not affiliated in any way with Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears, or the Chicago Bulls. None of MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears, or the Chicago Bulls have endorsed, supported, directed, or participated in the creation of the content at this site, or in the creation of the site itself. It's just a media site that happens to cover MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears, and the Chicago Bulls.

Bleacher Nation is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.